General Psychosocial Measures are Affected by the Situation Preceding Assessment: The ‘Arbitrary Distinction’ Between State and Trait Measures is Still Unresolved
Open Access
- 13 May 2021
- journal article
- Published by Vilnius University Press in Psichologija
- Vol. 63, 86-100
- https://doi.org/10.15388/psichol.2021.29
Abstract
General psychosocial measures are assumed to be stable over time. However, such measures may be affected by the situation preceding assessment. In this study 28 participants completed the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, the Subjective Happiness Scale, and the Life Orientation Test which are general measures, and the Positive Affect Negative Affect Schedule and the Feeling Scale which are state measures. Subsequently, the first part of ‘Mega Disasters Nagasaki The Forgotten Bomb’ documentary was presented to the participants. Following the intervention, they completed the same measures again. State measures of negative affect increased, feeling state decreased as expected, but retrospectively measured well-being as well as the index of optimism also decreased. There were large individual differences. The findings indicate that general measures, assumed to be stable over time, are influenced by the situation. Therefore, there is a need for reporting, as well as controlling, the events preceding their measurement. The implication of these findings is that hundreds of empirical results based on general or trait measures may be invalid if any event preceding their assessment had an emotional impact.Keywords
This publication has 44 references indexed in Scilit:
- The challenge of defining wellbeingInternational Journal of Wellbeing, 2012
- OptimismClinical Psychology Review, 2010
- The measurement of optimism: the psychometric properties of the Hungarian version of the Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT–R)Magyar Pszichológiai Szemle, 2010
- Optimism and Its Impact on Mental and Physical Well-BeingClinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health, 2010
- Global Judgments of Subjective Well-Being: Situational Variability and Long-Term StabilitySocial Indicators Research, 2004
- Measuring well‐being rather than the absence of distress symptoms: a comparison of the SF‐36 Mental Health subscale and the WHO‐Five well‐being scaleInternational Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 2003
- Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index.American Psychologist, 2000
- A power primer.Psychological Bulletin, 1992
- Intensity and frequency: Dimensions underlying positive and negative affect.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985
- On the arbitrary distinction between states and traits.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1981